Brilliant feats on boards earn joint March award

SUPERB performances on the basketball court and cycling velodrome have earnt Bendigo Spirit and Alessia McCaig joint honours for March in Bendigo’s Sports Star of the Year award.

In what is the 60th year of the awards, Spirit and McCaig became national champions once again.

Bendigo Spirit claimed the Cygnett Women’s National Basketball League championship for a third time after a 63-55 victory on Townsville Fire’s court in game two of the best-of-three grand final series.

The Kennedy Kereama-coached Spirit tipped off the season decider by scoring a 10-point win at home on the Red Energy Arena showcourt in West Bendigo.

Spirit achieved a win-loss tally of 18-3 across the regular season.

The Spirit’s championship-winning squad was Kelsey Griffin (captain), Veronica Burton, Casey Samuels, Marianna Tolo, Abbey Wehrung, Sami Whitcomb, Kelly Wilson, Opal Bird, Georgia Booth, Lavinia Cox, Ashlee Hannah, Asha Nightingale and Micah Simpson.

McCaig completed another Cycling Australia track nationals campaign with a medal of all three colours.

The highs were charging to gold in the sprint and keirin on the Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane.

McCaig claimed silver in the 1km time trial and bronze in the elite women’s teams sprint.

The skill of baseball pitcher Marcus Murphy and ice hockey player Emily Davis-Tope has earnt selection in Australian teams.

Both are the latest Sports Star scholarship recipients.

Murphy and his Australian under-16 teammates will contest a series of matches in the United States or across Asia in July and August.

Capable of pitching the ball at almost 140kmh, Murphy will be on the mound at the upcoming School Sport Australia nationals in Perth.

The 16-year-old won silver at the Australian Youth Championships in Sydney in January.

It will be a seventh appearance in Australian colours for Davis-Tope when she takes to the New Zealand rinks at the world ice hockey championships.

Davis-Tope was the first Australian to play women’s ice hockey in Canadian University sports and has been a star for Melbourne Ice in national league contests.

The talented athlete is in the elite athlete program at La Trobe University Bendigo, where she is a first-year occupational therapy student.